Suzanne May 180 Gallon Reef Build

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Probably an algae or bacteria bloom. I had one that was really bad, went away in a couple of days. Now my water is cloudy because I got a yellow head goby. Constantly sifting sand and spreading detritus around. He's cool to watch, but he makes a big mess!

How's the rock looking? Got any good algae or coralline on it yet?

Get that camera working! Need to see some pics!
 
So did a water change last night..readjusted pump flow and skimmer flow..we will see if it clears up. I think it could be a bit of both bloom and snails. I caught a few spawning. Hope it clears soon. Rock is still browning no coraline yet.
 
Last night I spent a ton of time trying to set up my APEX controller from my windows phone. So far I can only see the controller on my local Wi-Fi and have not been able to get it to work remotely yet.. which of course is the whole point... grrr... frustrating. However on the good side.. I do have email alerts working now and it will tell me when something gets out of range like PH or temperature. If the power goes out so forth...although I don't think that is really accurate..as it said the power went out last night for a minute or so..while I was awake and working on this thing..so I don't think that was true. So maybe it is sensative to surges or things turning off on the outlets like lights or something. Hopefully soon I can get the apex working on mobile and then I will dive into how to set up a video camera next so I can see the tank whenever I want :)

Oh and the tank is still cloudy and PH went up to 8.7 for a wee time last night..yikes.. bacteria happy.. now the PH is down so all is good..except the cloudies..
 
Ah sweet... finally figured it out.. maybe I just needed to sleep on it.. I had a light bulb moment and viola..it worked.. Now I can keep an eye on my aquarium while I am away.. Next on to camera...
 
Suzanne, nice pics.. From the pics, you do have a bacteria bloom, which is normal for a new tank....just keep up with the WC..depending on how long u will be gone, I would do another large one before you leave.
 
Speaking of that it is quite the pain in the ass to do water changes for this large of tank.. any suggestions welcome for those with large tanks..
 
Suzanne, you are welcome to come to my house and see my automated water change for my 375 gallon tank..I can change 40gallons of water in 7 mins and do not lift a bucket.
 
My issue is not having the ability to store water in near by locations. So I have one trash can in a coat closet..another in the storage room way across the living room.. I can get filtered water into the buckets and pump to mix salt.. The next trick is to getting the water out of the tank then pumping it from the bins to the tank when refilling.. then disposing of the waste water.
 
Suzanne, are you able to drill the sump? if so, install a pump with pvc that will pump the water out of the tank..as noted here: IMG_0432a | Flickr - Photo Sharing! The green pump in this pic is pump responsible for pump water out of sump and into my drainage system under my crawl space. If you wanna chat more, send me a PM. --Kirk
 
So I came up with a pretty easy and cheep portable option.. I just got a maxi jet pump since my other crapped out.. then I attached a long clear tube to it and pumped water out into my sink in the kitchen then pumped water in from my salt bucket in the storage room. Removable.. and NO lifting of buckets :) It took about 45 minutes total.. now no where near the 7 minutes..you all have but it will do for $40 bucks and no hole drilling in my floors or walls :)
 
So sinice I have to wait for the bloom to stop.. let's talk Vortech's... I am wondering what the best setting is.. I suppose it depends on what I want to put in the tank...what do you have your vortech's set at?
 
I've got my Mp10 set on EcoSmart 2nd + fourth light speed. It has the random flow plus keeps particles suspended in the water column where it can then be picked up by my skimmer/intake to fuge.


Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk
 
Still cloudy. Doing a water change tonight. I am seeing a lot more color on the rocks though so that is good. Pretty purples. Fish are still happy even through the bloom. I am going to set up a carbon reactor soon..just need to find the time to go to the LFS to pick up pump and carbon for my 550 phosban. Maybe it will help with the bloom.. Any Carbon users and preferences out there?
 
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So the bloom is clearing... yea! I added a carbon filter did another water change and I can actually see to the back of the tank now after a week. Yippy. Not out of the woods yet but appears to be clearing. I will do another water change this weekend and see what happens. This weekend I also plan to start a QT per the QT thread. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f15/quarantine-process-27022/
Things to collect...20 gallon tank, sponge corner filter, air pump..I may have one..must scrounge through the old supplies and see., small heater. Maybe I will pick it up this weekend at OBD BBQ. :tongue: Then I want to start adding coral..must go back to my list at the beginning and pick a good first timer coral from it. Then supplies to figure out how to glue em down and dip.. So question do you QT your coral or is dipping usually enough?
 
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